Since January 1, the Vancouver Canucks have scored the fewest goals per game in the NHL, while the Winnipeg Jets have allowed the fewest goals against per game in the NHL.
As the Canucks headed into Tuesday night’s game against the Jets, it seemed predestined by the numbers that the Canucks would get shut out or score, at most, two goals, likely in a 3-2 loss. The Canucks are not a team designed to score goals in bunches; the Jets are not a team designed to give up goals in bunches.
So, of course, facing the presumptive Vezina Trophy winner in Connor Hellebuyck, the Canucks lit him up for five goals on 21 shots, then added a sixth goal into the empty net for good measure.
It was just the third time all season the Canucks have scored six goals in a game. The previous two times were against the Chicago Blackhawks, who are objectively terrible. Somehow they did it against arguably the best team in the NHL.
It certainly helped that Brock Boeser awoke from his slumber and played like the star he’s capable of being.
Boeser finished the game with two goals and an assist, not to mention drawing a penalty, throwing two hits, and creating some dangerous chances off the rush that didn’t quite find the back of the net. He and his linemates, Elias Pettersson and Nils Höglander, looked like a legitimate first line, something the Canucks have rarely had this season.
“I thought we were really connected tonight,” said Boeser. “Even on the forechecks, I thought we were working hard and when two guys were working hard, I thought our third guy was reloading hard, and that allowed some pucks to stay in the offensive zone. I was really happy with our game and now we need to build off it.”
Boeser’s two goals ended a 12-game goal drought, which had Boeser beating himself up.
“I haven't been playing great as of late,” said Boeser in the morning before the game. “I've been hard on myself. I expect myself to be better for our team and help drive the bus to help us win hockey games.”
On Tuesday night, Boeser wasn’t a passenger; he was in the driver’s seat.
“Those are the goals you love seeing Brock [score],” said head coach Rick Tocchet. “He’s one of the best tippers and, obviously, in front of the net, he gets a lot of goals that way. It was nice to see those go in for him. He had a lot of energy tonight; he was really dialed in.”
Boeser’s big night meant a lot for the team, not only in terms of the result on the ice, but also in how it affected the players in the room.
“Brock’s one of my closest friends,” said Quinn Hughes. “He’s been someone I can lean on and he’s just been a really quality friend over the course of the six years that I’ve been here. You never want to see anyone struggle but, in saying that, I think everyone on this team has gone through some ups and downs this year…Hopefully, he can get on a roll here.”
Apparently, the Canucks beat the Jets through the power of friendship when I watched this game.
- The Canucks played a legitimately great game but it also helped that Connor Hellebuyck was seemingly replaced by his innie, Helly B, who is not as good at goaltending as Hellebuyck. “Your outie has won two Vezina trophies,” he was told and he found that fact pleasing even if he had no idea what it meant.
- Like Andrew Neiman, the Canucks were constantly rushing. Five minutes in, the Canucks counter-attacked after Teddy Blueger broke up a Jets chance in front of the net. Linus Karlsson took a hit to send his linemates away on a 3-on-2. Blueger dropped the puck for Quinn Hughes and he set up a Drew O’Connor one-timer that squeaked past a sliding Hellebuyck.
- Jonathan Lekkerimäki nearly made it 2-0 by stealing the puck from Hellebuyck behind the net. He tried a wraparound on the backhand to stuff the puck in the open net but Hellebuyck dove back to get his paddle on the puck, robbing the rookie with a candidate for save-of-the-year. Hellebuyck must have reintegrated for a moment, it’s the only explanation.
- Hellebuyck’s brilliant save gave the Jets a chance to even the score. Nikolaj Ehlers caught Marcus Pettersson with his skates facing the wrong direction on a 3-on-2 and attacked his heels like he was Prince Paris, cutting into the middle of the ice before ripping a wristshot past Kevin Lankinen’s blocker.
- Then Boeser drew a tripping penalty and the Canucks went to work on the power play. In Sunday’s game against the Utah Hockey Club, the Vancouver Canucks had six minutes of power play time in the third period, all of which went to waste. After the game, I asked Tocchet if he had considered putting Lekkerimäki, who has been outstanding on the power play in the AHL and looked sharp on the second unit in the NHL, on the first unit when things weren’t clicking in the third period.
- “What, am I going to take Boeser off? I’ve got to get him going,” said Tocchet at the time. “That’s not the answer but he will be eventually.”
- With Conor Garland coming out of the lineup, however, Lekkerimäki was, at least for the time being, the answer. He immediately fit right in with the first unit, which was suddenly whipping the puck around the offensive zone with crispness and authority that we haven’t seen in ages. It wasn’t just Lekkerimäki but it was hard to deny his impact given his confident touches on the puck.
- “I don’t think the moment was too big for a young kid like him,” said Tocchet. “When he got the puck, he was nice and relaxed. That’s his gift: his hands. There’s still things we’ve got to work with him on the power play — he could be more deceptive and I’d like to see him take a couple more rips at, he’s got such a good shot — but that will come with experience.”
- The power play gave the Canucks the 2-1 lead. Lekkerimäki took a cross-ice pass from Pettersson and set up Hughes for a one-timer that Boeser deftly deflected past Hellebuyck to bust his slump. It was the best tip since I suggested that Lekkerimäki should go on the first power play unit.
- I kid, I kid. I’m not going to take credit for that, especially since it took an injury to Garland for it to happen, and that sucks. But hopefully, Lekkerimäki earned a chance to prove he belongs on that first unit for a few more games, at least.
- It seemed like the Canucks were going to head into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead when a last-second rush instead gave them a 3-1 lead. Two goals off the rush? Is that even allowed?
- It was a beautiful goal. Boeser picked off a pass in the neutral zone and looped back to regroup — which hasn’t been reprogrammed out of his brain, apparently — before his line attacked with speed. He and Pettersson worked a give-and-go to draw all attention to the right side of the ice while Höglander burst past Adam Lowry on the left side, leaving him all alone for Boeser’s centring pass, and he tipped the puck through Hellebuyck with three seconds left in the period.
- “It was unreal,” said Höglander. “I didn’t even see the puck went in.”
- “It’s just a huge goal,” said Boeser. “Anytime you can take a two-goal lead in the game, it can really put the pressure on. But it also gave us the time to talk in the room and go, ‘Okay, we’ve got to keep going, we’ve got to keep pressing.’”
- The Canucks continued to pour the pressure on to start the second period — there was a shift where Tyler Myers seemed to get a touch on the puck in every single square metre of the offensive zone — but it was the Jets who got the next goal. Adam Lowry sneakily ripped the stick out of Elias “Junior” Pettersson’s hands in a battle behind the net, so when Brandon Tanev tipped a Luke Schenn shot and the puck bounced into the crease, Pettersson couldn’t clear the puck and Alex Iafallo poked it in to make it 3-2.
- The Canucks didn’t fold, even as the Jets pressed and came close to tying the game, including another Ehlers drive to the middle of the ice where he hit the post. “Earlier times this season, in the past, we’ve sat back,” said Boeser. “We didn’t do that tonight, so I was really proud of us.”
- Boeser restored the two-goal lead later in the second period. Höglander outbattled two Jets along the boards and got the puck to Boeser, who fed Marcus Pettersson at the blue line. Hellebuyck made the save on Pettersson’s point shot but didn’t cover it quickly enough and Boeser made like Phish closing out a concert and jammed it home.
- “You see on my second goal, [Höglander] forechecked by himself, ate the puck for a few seconds, and got it over to me,” said Boeser. “That’s a huge play. That goal doesn’t happen if it wasn’t for him.”
- Less than a minute later, the Canucks made it 5-2. The goal came off a great forecheck, as Pius Suter pressured Dylan DeMelo into a turnover to Jake DeBrusk, who quickly moved the puck behind the net to Kiefer Sherwood. Suter popped to the front of the net and Sherwood put the puck on his tape for a tap-in goal. At that point, I didn’t know what the Hellebuyck was going on: who is this team and what did they do with the Canucks?
- Suter and his linemates had a fantastic game, as they were hard-matched against the Jets’ dangerous top line of Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, and Gabriel Vilardi. They not only kept that trio off the scoreboard but their goal also came against that line, so they outscored them to boot.
- “Sutes is a really smart guy,” said Tocchet. “I’ve given him some tough assignments this year — that’s a tough line to shut down. They’re probably one of the best in the league.”
- Suter was also a major contributor to the penalty kill, which deserves a ton of credit for killing off two penalties late in the second period, both of which overlapped for a brief 5-on-3 for the Jets, who have the best power play in the NHL. The Canucks neutered the power play like it was their pet and they were following the advice of Bob Barker and Drew Carey.
- The Canucks held the Jets to just 21 shots but Kevin Lankinen also deserves a lot of credit, as he made some fantastic saves to keep the Jets from clawing their way back into this game. He must have been elated to finally get some goal support, even as he made sure he didn’t really need it.
- I’ve been skeptical of Linus Karlsson but there's no denying the impact he had on this game. He helped create the opening goal, even if he didn’t get an assist, and he played a strong two-way game, including a fantastic defensive play on Mark Scheifele in the slot in the third period, breaking up a grade-A scoring chance to keep the Canucks up 5-2.
- The best part about the Canucks’ third period is that they kept creating chances, taking advantage of the Jets’ up-ice pressure by counter-attacking with 2-on-1s. Höglander was involved in two of them, first setting up Boeser for a chance at the hat trick that got blocked by a sliding Josh Morrissey, then working a sweet passing play to set up Pettersson, only for Hellebuyck to rob him. Perhaps Höglander could have been a little bit more selfish, but he’s a giver.
- “Always when you have two goals like that, you want the guy to get the hat trick,” said Höglander. “It was pretty close!”
- Boeser had a chance at the hat trick into an empty net, as the Jets ambitiously pulled Hellebuyck for the extra attacker despite being down by three goals. Unfortunately, his attempt from the defensive zone went well wide for an icing. Not to worry: Pius Suter hit the empty net with four seconds left in the game to make it 6-2 with his 20th goal of the season.
- “He scored his 20th and I told him after the game, ‘Cha-ching!’” quipped Tocchet. “That’s a cha-ching goal.”
- Now, the hope for the Canucks is that this isn’t one-and-done — that this performance against the best team in the NHL can give them confidence, especially as they head out on a crucial road trip.
- “We’re going into some desperate buildings,” said Tocchet. “St. Louis is desperate, the Rangers are desperate, Jersey wants to hold what they’re trying to do, Columbus — these are desperate teams. The buildings are going to be loud, there’s going to be a lot of heat on you when you have the puck…I think this is good for us to know that if we do the right things, it’s okay.”
